Jun 19, 2010

When the father is involved with the pregnancy, the risk of infant mortality during the first year of life the child is significantly reduced. The conclusion is a study by the University of South Florida.

The researchers noted that babies with absent parents were four times more likely to die before completing one year than the infants with more involved fathers. Children who had less attention were also more likely to be born prematurely, with low weight and height.

The study, published in the Journal of Community Health, confirms the influence of his father on the child even before she was born. "Our research suggests that the lack of paternal involvement during pregnancy is an important factor and potentially modify the risk of infant mortality, the author emphasizes, Amina Alio.
Methods - We examined all newborns - more than 1.3 million children - in Florida, from 1998 to 2005, for the survey. The paternal participation was defined by the presence of his name on the birth certificate, since the researchers observed that the record indicates an interest, even if minimal, with the child even in pregnancy.

They also noted that the presence of his father beside his mother also avoids complications during pregnancy such as hypertension and anemia, because it decreases the stress of women. "When parents are involved, children thrive in school and develop better," he said.

Jun 15, 2010

With Coventry University research revealing that text message abbreviations can improve a child’s literacy skills, LEGO UK reveals that essential literacy skills can be developed much earlier in a child’s life through play.

Through play, children acquire the ability for abstract thought and symbolic representation, and an understanding of rules - all of which are fundamental for linguistic processing.
Dr Nicola Pitchford, Lecturer of Developmental Psychology at Nottingham University explains: “Play facilitates the development of the basic building blocks of cognitive processing that are crucial for later acquired scholastic skills.

“Through play children learn to represent things symbolically and start to understand the relations between objects and events. Symbolic representations are the basis of many scholastic skills, such as literacy, writing, spelling and mathematics. Pretend play also helps children develop story-telling skills, supporting their development of imagination and grammar, both of which are necessary for understanding and creating literature.”

Cecilia Weckstrom, Head of the LEGO Learning Institute adds: “Language is an example of a system where meaning is constructed by assembling constituent parts together – you put together letters that form words, which form sentences that convey meaning.”

“LEGO bricks work in the same way as sentence formation; you put together pieces that form parts, which make up a model that also conveys meaning. The model can be taken apart and put together in many different ways, much like language and mathematic equations. It often takes a few different iterations to get it “right” so willingness to iterate and persevere is crucial to learning.”

Challenging, creative play helps children enhance their cognitive and behavioral skills, within a protected environment – helping to foster confident learners.
.....................................................................................................................Notes:• The Coventry University study of eleven-year old children explored how the use of text abbreviations might be related to the skills children need in reading and writing.• The findings, first presented in the British Journal for Developmental Psychology, March 2009, revealed that the children who were better at spelling and writing used the most ‘textisms’.

Jun 4, 2010

After nine months in the womb, warm and cozy, the newborn must adapt to a different reality. Get out of the 36 degrees (rain or shine) for several seasons in one day. Out of the water for air. Out of tranquility to strange the in outside. Turning to back and forth, to change diapers, undress, the bath, the breast to suckle, clean the mouth. The baby opens his mouth and suddenly cries and protests. And you wonder: "Is it cold? Hunger? Is it Sleep?".

Discarded all such alternatives, if you continue to face interrogation while trying to soothe your little one, it's good to know that the newborn takes a while to get used to all drive out of the mother belly.

"Replacing him as soon as possible or put it face down initially in water, bath time, so he touches with his feet the bottom of the tub and feel more supported, can help. But this is a cry strangeness that passes with time, "explains Sandra de Oliveira Campos, a pediatrician at the Federal University of São Paulo (UNIFESP).

- In general, until the end of the month, he will learn to enjoy bath time. Then it will be difficult to get him out of the water.